Jagir Kaur barred from serving as SGPC chief

By Sarabjit Pandher

AMRITSAR, FEB. 2. The Jathedar of the Akal Takht, Giani Puran Singh, today restrained the ``excommunicated'' Bibi Jagir Kaur from functioning as President of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) until she submitted herself before the supreme religio-temporal authority of Sikhs.

Ten of the 15 members of the SGPC executive committee were awarded punishment, which included cleaning of utensils for two days for religious misconduct.

Bibi Jagir Kaur is the first woman to have ever been excommunicated. She is also the first president of the SGPC to have been barred from the community, since the body managing historical shrines was established in 1925.

According to reports from Chandigarh, Bibi Jagir Kaur refused to comment on the decision. Presspersons who met her at her residence, said Bibi Jagir Kaur was composed and cheerful.

Most of the executive members were present at the congregation in the courtyard facing the Akal Takht building.

Also the traditional ``Singh Sahibs'' (the apex clerics), who include the Jathedars of the Takht Keshgarh Sahib and the Takht Damdama Sahib, were conspicuous by their absence. It was one of the rare occasions when the head priest of the Golden Temple also did not attend the meeting of the apex clergy called to decide a vital issue of the community. The four baptised Sikhs, who were consulted at Guna in Madhya Pradesh, while issuing the ``Hukumnama'' were closeted with Giani Puran Singh, this morning.

The presence of the SGPC executive committee and the acceptance of the religious service by the 10 members, is being interpreted in the religious circles of the Sikhs, as a vital step providing legitimacy to the January 25 ``Hukumnama'' issued by Giani Puran Singh, decreeing the excommunication of Bibi Jagir Kaur for violating the directives of the Akal Takht. By the same edict, he also summoned the entire executive body of the SGPC for today.

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